Saint Seiya: Cosmic Rift (Volume 5)

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All Rise...

Judge Sandra Dozier gets to revel in the flip side of the Knights of the Zodiac hell we put Judge David Gutierrez through.

The Charge

"One of you is the true Golden Saint, worthy of wearing the Gold Cloth,
and destined to save mankind."—Saori, to the Bronze Saints

The Case

This volume of Saint Seiya opens strongly, with Hyoga locked in mortal
combat with his former teacher and mentor. It is a great battle, made poignant
by the confusion Hyoga feels at having to face his master this way—he
doesn't yet understand that Crystal Saint is under the influence of Pope
Ares.

Saint Seiya was originally released in Japan in 1986 and immediately
earned a huge following. By popular demand, the show extended its originally
scheduled run, then spawned a second series and a few stand-alone specials. Fans
loved the heavy influence of Greek mythology on the show, the huge cast, the
fighting, and the epic drama. This is the simple yet compelling appeal of the
show. Whereas Robotech had gorgeous dogfights in space, Saint
Seiya is a love song of martial arts and special attacks. With a large cast
of characters, there are dozens of stories to satisfy every dramatic whim. There
is literally something for everyone—nobility, evil, brotherhood, betrayal,
death, life, love.

In the postapocalyptic world in which they live, children are trained to
fight in tournaments to determine status as Saints, with different rankings
based on experience and skill. Seiya, the title character, is a Bronze Saint.
Along with the other Bronze Saints, he fights for Saori, who (along with her
family) ran the tournaments for many years but who has a greater calling that is
finally revealed to the Bronze Saints in one of the episodes on this volume.

They also fight for control of the Golden Armor (also called the Gold
Cloth), a legendary suit of armor that grants its wearer tremendous protection
and ability in battle. Pope Ares wants it so he can take over the world, and
Saori wants it so that doesn't happen.

Things really start to get rolling with these episodes, as Seiya and his
teammates, individually and together, go up against super-powerful villains such
as the Fire Saint and Lizard Misty, and an important ally returns. Gigas
organizes a series of attacks meant to divide and weaken the Saints and their
protection of Japan, with his ultimate goal the acquisition of the Golden
Helmet.

Due to the epic story arc, it's difficult to get into Saint Seiya
unless you've seen the whole thing. If you watched this volume alone, you might
not be terribly impressed by the animation, which shows its age (although I
personally quite like the late '80s style of animation), or the fight sequences,
which pan over static scenes and show the action more artistically than
literally. However, the point is the drama of the fight, which can only be felt
if you are invested in the characters that are fighting, and you care about what
happens.

Video transfer for Volume 5 is about as good as can be expected for a series
from the late '80s. The colors are somewhat washed out, and the print has fuzz
and grain, but it is still completely watchable. The soundtrack suffers a bit
from tinniness and scratching in certain parts, and the 2.0 Dolby surround is
not very lively, but it is robust, and even the smallest grunts and sighs come
through clearly. Again, these are due to the age of the series. Extras include
liner notes about mythology and a clean opening sequence. Subtitle/dub settings
are slightly different for this release than usual—the choice is English
dub without subtitle, or original Japanese with subtitle (however, subtitling
can be turned off or changed to signs-only subtitling via the DVD remote
options). It's worth listening to the excellent performances in the original
Japanese at least once, despite the fact that the sound quality is mushier than
in the English dub.

If Saint Seiya looks familiar, it may be because it was cut up,
redubbed, and released to television in a significantly different form as the
(by all accounts) terrible Knights of the Zodiac. Frankly, just the name
alone makes me believe some of the horror stories I have heard about this
release. Saint Seiya is the title for fans to get. At five episodes per
disc, the price is right, and the bonus of seeing it uncut and unedited should
make it seem like a completely different show for those who saw the American
television version.